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announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuingolutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" e context on bbc news. e >> moments ago, the israel defense forces carried out a precise strike on t central headquarters of the hezbollah organization that served as the epicenter of hezbollah's terror. >> and we will continue degrading hezbollah until all our objectives are met. >> really loud bangs that reverberated through the air that you could feel.

about seven or eight of them in very quick succession. ♪ >> coming up in the context. beirut is rocked by multiple blasts as israel targets hezbollah's central headquarters. is it a turning point for the middle east? we will be live in beirut where we wl get reaction from a lebanese mp. and in new york, israel's prime minister delivered a defiant speech to the u.n. general assembly. ♪ so welcome to the context on a busy day with lots developing in the middle east. multiple blasts have reverberated through beirut, sending clouds of smoke into the sky. these are just some of the latest pictures from the scene of the explosions. in a densely populated area. at least two people killed, and

76 people injured in israeli airstrikes. those numbers are expected to rise. a number of buildings reported to have been raised to the ground, and israeli defense forces claimed to have targeted hezbollah's central headquarters. sources say the group's leader is alive with iran's news agency also reporting that he's safe. all this comes hours after prime minister benjamin netanyahu told the united nations general assembly that israel's offensive would not stop until it's objectives were met. he made no mention of a u.s. led cease-fire, proposals between israel and hezbollah. this is said to be the moment benjamin netanyahu approved the strikes from new york. this is according to his office. the lebanese army is said to be protectively setting up a security cordon around the u.s. embassy in lebanon. today's develop its could mark a turning point in this conflict. with the very latest from

beirut, here is our correspondent. >> israel has struck beirut with a series of massive explosions. it is hard to imagine a bigger escalation or a starter picture of war -- starker picture of war. and here was the aftermath. the hezbollah stronghold in the southern suburbs now looking like gaza. many lebanese fear that is where things are headed. the israeli military says it targeted hezbollah's hq. >> moments ago, the israel defense forces carried out a precise strike on the central headquarters of the hezbollah terror organization that sved

as the epicenter of hezbollah's terror. hezbollah central headquarters was intentionally built under residential buildings in the heart of beirut as part of hezbollah's strategy of using lebanese people as human shields. >> some israeli media are reporting that the target of the strike was the hezbollah leader. but that is unconfirmed. pro regime media in iran are saying he's in a safe place and was not affected. several buildings have been brought down in beirut. hospitals are appealing for blood donors. bbc news, southern lebanon. >> earlier, the u.n. expressed alarm at the israeli attacks on lebanon. >> with lebanon,e are watching the development unfold in beirut with great alarm. as soon as we have information

from our end or any reaction, i will share with you. >> the attack in beirut's southern suburbs apparently targeting the hezbollah leader came minutes after benjamin netanyahu addressed the assembly in new york. as he took to the stage, many walked out in protest. regimen iniesta hey he comes -- he had come to reject the lies and slander about his country spoken by others at the podium. he repeated his claim israel is not at war with lebanon, but his country has no choice but to remove the threat hezbollah poses. >> we are not at war with you, we are war with hezbollah, which has hijacked your country and threatens to destroy hours. as long as hezbollah chooses the path of war, israel has no choice, and israel has every right, to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely. and that is exactly what we are doing. >> we will get more reaction to

that. we are joined by our correspondent in beirut, and a foster. and from the u.n. in new york, our other correspondent joins us. the situation on the ground following those rocket attacks apparently targeting hezbollah's headquarters. >> it is a chaotic scene. and you are seeing some of the pictures and talking about -- it is really those moments the hours after the attack. it is dark now, but there is work going on. they are digging through the rubble to find survivors, trying to get a picture of exactly what has gone on. at the moment, hezbollah are not allowing journalists into the area to see what is going on. but people who live there, and it is a densely populated area, you are talking tall apartment buildings, a lot of people living -- families living in flats. a lot of people are trying to get out of those southern suburbs. we have seen people fleeing over

the last few days from the south of lebanon after the airstrikes started. i think people here have seen strikes, we have seen several strikes over the last few days. they have been what israel called precision strikes. they tend to have targeted one or two apartments. in those circumstances, we have also seen civilians killed as well. really nothing on the scale of what we saw here at just about 20 past 6:00 in the evening local time. that series of very loud explosions that absolutely reverberated through the city. very loud. you could feel them where we were per watching the large cloud of smoke go up. in the next few hours, a lot more will become clearer. what we know for sure and what we knew pretty quickly was this is a significant escalation coming as it did probably about 90 minutes or so, if that, after israel' s -- israel's prime minister

finished his speech at the u.n. >> staying with you for the time being, we know israel says they were targeting hezbollah's headquarters. but we just got a statement from senior israeli officials saying it is too early to say if that israeli airstrike did indeed hit. but hezbollah is saying he is well. where are we in terms of what is happening with the leader of hezbollah? >> let me put contacts on that for you to start off with. he is the leader of hezbollah. he is a totemic figure. he's very much somebody who israel will have targeted no doubt. however, he is no doubt an elusive figure. he doesn't speeches regularly in front of a plain background, not outdoors where you would be able to see where he was praying when you have hezbollah rallies for example, he never appears in person, even though there may be thousands there. his speech will be made on a big

screen. he has not been seen in public for years. some people question whether or not he was even in beirut. and certainly you would wonder, given the attacks on senior members of hezbollah over the last week, whether that is a place he would be at the moment. so in terms of the iranian media, they are saying he's safe and well. in terms of the israeli media, they are saying that he was a possible or probable target of this attack. it will be very difficult to know because both sides -- when something as sensitive as this, both sides are looking into it. israel said they are looking into it. they are checking. they said it was the headquarters of hezbollah they were targeting. so we will see. i think probably until hezbollah were to say, were to put out some sort of statement saying he had been killed, i just would

reserve judgment as we always do, until we know. because there are also conflicting suggestions coming in at the moment. >> absolutely critical, just to reemphasize that. stay there for the time being. a number of lines coming in on this i want to update you as reuters are saying president biden has said the u.s. had no advanced knowledge of or participation in an israeli airstrike in beirut. in new york, this strike happened very quickly after benjamin netanyahu took to the podium and gave a very defiant address at the u.n. general assembly. >> that is right. already, he was breaking with the united states and hopes of a 21 day cease fire after many

statements that were very awkward for the united states. his speech was closely watched to see if he had moved closer to perhaps agreeing to that immediate cease-fire. but the speech made clear he was going to press on both against hamas and hezbollah in lebanon. in a statement, he talked about how israel is winning. he tried to shift the blame to iran, saying israel was fighting on all fnts and it would be able to hit in iran and everywhere in the middle east. and ultimately, they would prevail. but diplomats here are gravely alarmed about -- first off, engulfing the entire region. but also just the civilians, the children, the women being killed in the escalation of these strikes. there has been a lot of criticism of the israeli government that this is a blatant aggression, this is not proportionate. and the secretary-general is

security council now that while focused on gaza, is touching on lebanon. and his message to those gathered around the security counsel is there cannot be endless negotiations as we have seen on gaza that the world cannot afford to wait for that there needs to be a cease-fire now. really nudging on the fact the united states over a year has been unable to get a hostage deal out of israel. and they are directly linked to lebanon. because there has not been a solution in gaza, we are not seeing the escalation in beirut and across the country. >> as we speak, we are getting word from the uters news agency that iran's foreign ministry says this strike on beirut is a war crime, in their words. it was very visible that there

were many people, many diplomats walked out ahead of benjamin netanyahu's speech. iran's foreign ministry saying it is a war crime towards israel and the u.s. and they should be held accountable for it. this is reuters quoting iran ran state media. like i said, visible that many people within the u.n. general assembly, many diplomats standing up and walking out ahead of benjamin netanyahu's speech. >> that is right. benjamin netanyahu has faced protests. thousands in new york last night protesting. many others today. his visit and his speech. in the hall as he was walking up to the rostrum of the u.n. general assembly, dozens of diplomats stood up and walked out. it was noticeable as he discussed the threat from iran and wanting to reach a peace deal with saudi arabia that even saudi arabia's delegation was not there.

we've heard from so many leaders in the region, including the foreign minister of lebanon, saying his country's existence is at stake here. so many very pessimistic about the hopes for getting a cease-fire deal. after listening to the speech, and after the airstrikes in beirut, i tried to ask the israeli ambassador why israel was continuing to strike parts in beirut or civilians are when the international community is calling for a cease-fire. he walked off and didn't answer. the u.s. ambassador linda thomas-greenfield. i tried to get the united states' reaction to the fact israel is also ignoring their calls for a cease-fire. again, she did not answer me. many here are very thtlipped among israel's allies. benjamin netanyahu rushing back now to israel and cutting his visit short. >> our correspondence, thank you

very much. anna, talking in terms of diplomacy, what is on offer? we know there is a resolution, there was a u.n. resolution of the series -- security council 1701 meant to absolutely stop all of this. but it feels like the n. doesn't have the possibility, the means in which to enforce it. and we are now seeing this escalation on the ground. >> 1701 is being questioned for years. what that is in very simple terms, after the last war between lebanon and israel in 2006, what 1701 was supposed to do was create a buffer zone. think about the geography of the border, you have israel in the south, lebanon in the north, and a landmark that stretches across lebanon. the idea of the u.n. resolution was has below was supposed to

withdraw its personnel, their weaponry, all of those things north of the river. that would provide this buffer zone so lebanon, keeping them away from the border and preserving israel's security in the south. as the years have gone on, hezbollah have been in that area. they have been very close to the border. that is what israel have said they are trying to do now. after the seventh of october, the very next day on the eighth after we saw those devastating attacks in southern israel. we started to get this cross-border fire between lebanon and israel. i remember it very clearly because i was there and remember watching the rockets go. so tens of thousands in northern israel were moved out of their homes at that point. i thought people packinup their things and fleeing. the same as we have seen people in southern lebanon over the last week or so. israel changed its war aims pray they said returning the people

to the north of israel to their homes was something that was an official war aim. they said in order to do that, they have to push hezbollah north of the litani river themselves. there is a you -- u.n. river force working that buffer zone. they work alongside the lebanese armed forces. but i think many people you speak to will say that he did not do the job of keeping hezbollah out. israel said that is what it is doing now. many people question the methods by which israel is doing that. and the civilian casualties which this current action is causing. >> if you could explain to us, the israeli defense forces spokesperson made the claim that has below was -- the headquarters was underneath a residential building. how much do we know about how hezbollah operates? arguably these are the same claims israel made against

hamas. >> they were a secretive organization. something like that, the location of their headquarters is a closely guarded secret. i don't know if we will ever find out for sure whether or not that was the case. but to talk about that area, i was down there yesterday afternoon. it was one of those precision strikes as the israelis called it. it is a heavily populated area, a hezbollah stronghold. not an area you can just walk into. we went into it with permission after this strike. i know one of our teams has been down there to try and get to the scene this evening. we were told they were not allowed to get close enough to film. it was a place where families live, people go about their business. we know the leadership, the command structure, the high command structure of hezbollah are based there.

we have seen in the last week or so, several being killed. it was the funeral of one of them this afternoon. several have been killed in israeli airstrikes. it raises questions -- we are talking about the leader of hezbollah -- whether he would be in such an obvious area. again, many questions will be asked. but i think one thing that will become pretty clear over the next few hours is the civilian impact of all of this. the death toll so far. they are still digging through the rubble and expect it to become much higher as the evening goes on. >> anna foster in beirut, thank you so much. -- at the u.n. in new york. appreciate your insight and reporting from the ground, we are continuing with this developing story. picking up on what anna was saying with our guests, an independent member of the lebanese parliament joining us from beirut.

welcome to the program. i wonder if you could bring us up-to-date on what you know. at the moment, we believe two people have been killed. as my colleague was saying, it is a densely populated area of beirut. what do you know? >> good evening. actually, beirut is totally silent. everything you hear is not true. has below just issued a statement, don't believe anything you are hearing. most statements were issued by hezbollah about this incident. that was not in beirut, it was a suburb of beirut. but it is nearby, a couple kilometers outside of beirut and the suburb area. the army is executing full deployment in the streets of beirut heavily with a lot of soldiers in case anything happens.

we have no news now. but also no news is news. after four hours or more of that attack, when has below are not announcing it, you must think there is something that is not right. we just heard the daughter just arrived to the place of the attack. no one knows what will happen or what is going on. in a couple of hours, everything will be clear. >> for the clarity of our audience, because this is insight you can only provide us. you are saying at the moment, and you don't speak on behalf of has below. it is critical to explain to our viewers you are an independent member of the lebanese parliament. at the moment, there is no conversation as to the whereabouts? >> no. i'm not independent. i'm a member of the opposition bloc in the parliament. and we were against hezbollah,

against the iranian military controlling the decisions of the parliament, the country, the government. so yes, i'm not just an independent. and i can confirm has below just said no statements were issued -- >> critical to get that clear. thank you very much for your patience. in this statement from the israeli defense forces that hezbollah have been there headquarters was underneath a residential building. is that something you can clarify for us? >> no one knows where the headquarter of hezbollah is -- yes, it is in -- all of the area is civilians, and there is a big mass of civilians in this area. i can tell you about this block. it is inside the street, so the ople who pass next to it, it is a closed block. one of the buildings is for the

mps of hezbollah. where we met them a year and a half ago to elect the president with us. so it is a military area, a full block of around 12 buildings. but there's a lot of buildings of civilians around this area. and we know in gaza, israel has never looked to civilians. maybe 50 or 60,000 of the civilians, the same in lebanon, like they did with -- when they were meeting underground. full of civilians to be able to reach the leaders during their meeting. >> buildings around this particular building, just in terms of what we are seeing on the ground. i know you are liening to benjamin netanyahu's speech. you mentioned no word of a cease-fire and we had this

attack very shortly do you feel that this was choreographed? >> yes, as the israeli said, the decision was taken last monday. but i was in contact with the lebaneseelegation in new york yesterday and today with the french ambassador today and with the american senators during the day. and everyone was waiting for the israelis as a response to the city's -- cease fire proposed by the u.n. , i think afterathaniel, we knew there was no cease fire, benjamin yanai -- benjamin netanyahu was going -- and he said has below. in all of the iranian militias in the area. yes we are against iran and the

militias, and they are corolling the countries, and we consider lebanon is a hostage in their hands. but again, the israelis and benjamin netanyahu are doing war crimes and killing civilians. and the problem is somewhere else because the problem is not giving the palestinians -- ongoing for the last 75 years going on. in the world stayed silent facing that. this is the problem, he did not even speak about it today. he gave the reason to iran and militias to control the area passing by syria and iraq for the last 20 or 30 years. until now, the israelis are not even talking or discussing the palestinian issue. there, the world should start working on having a multistate solution. lebanon andhe area are going to a different phase, and it is

definitely escalating. i hope it will not be for long. >> we have to leave it there. the opposition member of the lebanese parliament, thank you very much. we are continuing to monitor the announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a law partner rediscovers her grandmother's artistry and creates a trust to keep the craft alive. a raond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned.